The men of the Shen family were assigned logging duties, while the women were driven to the livestock pens to shovel manure.
Shen Taotao stealthily tugged at her eldest brother’s tattered sleeve, signaling him to follow her first.
She led him toward the tool shed behind the relay station’s bamboo hut, where a pile of broken wooden planks and worn-out Li Hua lay. She planned to pick a sturdy one to fashion into a shovel—no matter how resilient she was, she couldn’t bring herself to scoop manure bare-handed.
Just as they rounded the corner of the main building, a thunderous crash erupted as if the sky were collapsing!
It was the covered corridor near the firewood shed of the relay station. Rafters as thick as bowls, laden with years of accumulated ice chunks, snapped like the overburdened spine of an old ox.
Half of the eaves, laden with snow and ice shards, came crashing down in a blinding cascade.
“Dodge!” Shen Taotao’s voice reacted faster than her mind!
In a blur, Xie Yunjing and his young guard Zhang Xun, who had been standing beside her moments earlier, were swallowed by the swirling snow and dust.
Instinctively, she lunged forward to grab Zhang Xun, but her feet slipped. Instead, she collided hard against a tall, slender figure in deep blue.
Thud!
Crash—
The two tumbled together into the narrow doorway of the adjacent firewood shed.
Almost simultaneously, heavy, rotten broken rafters and rubble mixed with snow and ice chunks poured down like a waterfall.
With a deafening roar, the exit through which they had fallen was completely blocked. The thicker end of a broken rafter wedged into the low wall of the doorway, while the other end plunged into the snow-covered ground like a heavy guillotine blade.
Dust and snow particles filled the air, choking them with every cough.
Shen Taotao was dazed from the fall, her forehead striking something cold and hard, stars dancing before her eyes.
When her vision cleared slightly, her blood ran cold.
She and Xie Yunjing were trapped tightly in a triangular crevice.
The space was extremely cramped, and she was pressed firmly against Xie Yunjing’s body.
Chilled air and fine snow seeped relentlessly through the gaps in the wood. Above them, the suspended broken rafter emitted occasional creaks, grating enough to set teeth on edge, as if it might collapse at any moment and crush them into pulp.
“Fuck…” Shen Taotao’s curse was stifled by the dusty air.
Survival instinct instantly overrode everything else. She swiftly scanned their prison—the brick walls on either side of the doorway, the hanging broken rafter overhead, the frozen ground.
Blueprints from her civil engineering days flashed through her mind: structure, load-bearing, stress distribution.
Suddenly, a pushing force came from beneath her.
“Don’t move!” she growled, her voice almost brushing against Xie Yunjing’s icy ear.
Xie Yunjing froze completely.
From the moment he was thrown into this wretched place, he had been stuck in an extremely awkward position—his back pressed tightly against the rough, cold brick wall, one leg forced to bend.
And in his arms… in his arms was that exiled “groundhog” woman from the Shen Family, Shen Taotao, whom he had scorned just the day before.
A few strands of her damp, mud-speckled hair brushed against the sensitive skin of his neck. Her cold yet unusually soft waist, shifting unavoidably and repeatedly, rubbed against his tense abdomen.
Her panicked, warm breath seeped out in faint puffs against the space below his chin.
Even worse, in her struggle to find a foothold in the confined space, her knee had bumped against a certain absolutely unmentionable critical area!
Bang!
An unprecedented, inexplicable fire—a mix of feverish heat, terror, and a intense sense of violation—instantly shot from the impacted spot straight to the crown of his head, burning his ears scalding hot.
Her body was stretched taut to its limit, uncontrollably tense like a fully drawn hard bow. Every inch of her muscles was stiff as stone, the sound of rushing blood exploding in her eardrums.
The air she exhaled carried a scorching heat, yet in the cramped space, there was simply no way to avoid it.
The scent emanating from her—a mix of cold mud, snow, and her own unique trace of sweat—seemed to carry countless tiny hooks, layer by layer, bit by bit, tearing open the icy shell he had wrapped around himself for twenty years, forcing its way inside.
He clenched his back teeth tightly, his Adam’s apple bobbing with suppressed tension, his cheeks burning as if scalded by boiling water.
His deep, pool-like eyes churned with emotions fierce enough to stir stormy waves.
Damn it!
Was this woman sent by the heavens to torment him?
Every slight movement was deliberate, every one meant to provoke him!
And yet, the person in question remained completely oblivious.
Shen Taotao’s mind was entirely occupied with geometric models and structural stability calculations.
She strained to turn her head, her small face flushed red from the effort, and happened to meet Xie Yunjing’s gaze—a turbulent mix of complex emotions, shock, embarrassment, and icy shards.
Why was his face so red? His ears looked about to drip blood.
Oh no, he must be terrified. Poor thing, probably never experienced a building collapse at such close range in his life.
A surge of affection, the kind she felt when her silly second brother was frightened, welled up in Shen Taotao.
She struggled to twist her face into a comforting, albeit distorted, smile, her voice softer than ever before: “Don’t be afraid, my lord, I’m here. Don’t move, and don’t panic. This place might look precarious, but it’s actually incredibly sturdy! It’s called a ‘triangular stable space,’ you know? It’s very stable. As long as the main structure of that broken rafter above us doesn’t completely fall apart, this is the safest air-raid shelter—even the King of Hell himself couldn’t pry it open. We just need to wait calmly for rescue.”
To emphasize her point, she painstakingly freed a trapped arm from between their bodies and laboriously gestured to form a triangle, her elbow unconsciously brushing against his taut chest muscles again.
Stable, my foot!
Xie Yunjing nearly lost his composure and cursed aloud from the stimulation of her movement.
His breathing grew heavier. This woman… what kind of enchantress was she? She was definitely… doing it on purpose!
Her squeezing, touching, and explaining weren’t soothing him—they were continuously adding fuel to the fire!
An indescribable, stifling sensation of blockage in his chest, mixed with intense frustration, burned so fiercely it felt like his internal organs were scalding.
But when he met those astonishingly bright eyes—devoid of any suggestive intent, filled only with absolute certainty about “structural safety”—that frustrated flame was strangely dampened, just a little, by an unfamiliar emotion.
“Look here!”Shen Taotao continued her earnest popular science explanation, “The wood and tiles that fell earlier are blocking us in tightly, but they’ve actually added another ‘load-bearing wall’ to our triangular space. It’s like having double insurance. As long as we don’t disturb that main beam above…”
Her words were drowned out by the chaotic shouts, cries for help, and vigorous digging sounds from outside.
Shen Dashan’s raspy voice boomed thunderously: “Little sister—”
Zhang Xun’s voice was equally determined: “Master—”
The two trapped in this “sweet hell” stiffened almost simultaneously.
As the last few wooden rafters and broken tiles blocking the exit were forcefully yanked away by Shen Dashan and the others, a biting cold wind rushed violently into the narrow triangular prison, where they could almost hear each other’s heartbeats.
S
The men of the Shen Family were assigned the task of logging, while the women were herded to the livestock pens to shovel manure.
Shen Taotao secretly tugged on her eldest brother’s tattered sleeve, signaling for him to follow her.
She led her brother toward the tool shed behind the relay station’s bamboo house. There was a pile of broken wooden planks and old plowshares there. She figured she could pick out a thick one and modify it into a shovel. After all, no matter how much hardship she could endure, she couldn’t accept scooping manure with her bare hands.
Just as they reached the corner of the main house, a heaven-shattering “CRACK!” resounded.
It was the section of the covered corridor near the woodshed. A rafter as thick as a bowl, laden with old ice chunks, snapped like the spine of an overburdened old ox.
Half of the eaves, wrapped in snow and ice shards, came crashing down.
“Get back!” Shen Taotao’s throat reacted faster than her brain.
In a blur, Xie Yunjing and the young guard Zhang Xun, who had been standing shoulder-to-shoulder just a moment ago, were instantly swallowed by a fog of snow.
She subconsciously lunged forward to grab Zhang Xun, but her foot slipped. Instead, she slammed squarely into a tall, straight figure in dark cyan robes.
Thump!
Crash—
The two of them tumbled together, falling into the narrow doorway of the woodshed beside them.
At almost the same instant, the heavy, rotten broken rafter and rubble, mixed with snow and ice chunks, cascaded down like a waterfall.
With a deafening boom, it sealed the exit they had just fallen through. One thick end of the broken rafter was wedged against the low wall of the doorway, while the other end smashed into the snow-covered ground, like a heavy guillotine.
Dust and snow filled the air, making one choke and cough.
Shen Taotao was dizzy from the fall, her forehead having knocked against a cold, hard object, making her see stars.
When her vision cleared slightly, her blood ran cold.
She and Xie Yunjing were wedged tightly in a triangular crevice.
The space was exceedingly cramped. She was pressed firmly on top of Xie Yunjing.
Icy snow and cold air seeped in relentlessly through the cracks in the wood. The suspended broken rafter above them occasionally let out a teeth-grinding groan, as if it would completely collapse the next second and flatten them into meat patties.
“Fuck…” A curse from Shen Taotao was choked back by the dust and smoke.
The instinct for survival instantly overrode everything else. She quickly scanned their cage—the brick walls on either side of the doorway, the broken rafter hanging above, the frozen earth below.
Blueprints from her “civil engineering dog” mind flashed rapidly across her brain: structure, load-bearing, stress distribution.
A pushing force suddenly came from beneath her.
“Don’t move!” she growled, her lips almost brushing against the shell of Xie Yunjing’s cold ear.
Xie Yunjing froze completely.
From the moment he was knocked into this godforsaken place, he had been held in an utterly awkward position—his back pressed tightly against the rough, icy brick wall, one leg forced into a bent position.
And in his arms… in his arms was that “groundhog” of an exiled woman he had been sneering at just the day before, Shen Taotao.
A few strands of her damp, mud-flecked hair were sweeping against the sensitive side of his neck. As she moved, her cold but exceptionally soft waist inevitably and repeatedly rubbed against his tense lower abdomen.
Her panicked breaths, laced with warmth, puffed against the inch of skin below his chin.
What was more fatal was that, in her attempt to find a point of support in the cramped space, her knee had bumped against a certain, absolutely unspeakable, critical area!
Boom!
An unprecedented flame—a mixture of scorching heat, alarm, and a strong sense of violation—shot straight from the point of impact to the top of his head, burning his ears scalding hot!
His body tensed to the extreme uncontrollably, like a fully drawn bow. Every inch of his muscles was as rigid as stone, and the sound of his rushing blood exploded in his eardrums.
Even his exhaled breath carried a searing heat, yet there was nowhere to escape in the narrow space.
The scent on her—a mix of earth, cold snow, and her own unique hint of sweat—seemed to have countless tiny hooks, tearing open the icy shell he had worn for twenty years, layer by layer, bit by bit, and burrowing inside.
He clenched his back teeth tightly, his Adam’s apple bobbing in suppression. His cheeks burned as if scalded by boiling water.
A tempest of emotions churned in his deep, pool-like eyes.
Damn it!
Was this woman sent by the heavens to be his undoing?
Every single movement was deliberate, every one a provocation!
Yet, the person in question was completely oblivious.
Shen Taotao’s mind was currently filled with geometric models and structural stability calculations.
She twisted her head with difficulty, her small face flushed red from the effort, and met Xie Yunjing’s eyes—which were swirling with complex emotions of shock, embarrassment, and an icy glint.
Why is his face so red? His ears look like they’re about to bleed.
Oh no, he must be scared stiff. Poor kid, he’s probably never experienced a collapsing building this up close and personal in his life.
A wave of pity, like the kind she felt when her own silly second brother got a fright, washed over Shen Taotao.
She forced a contorted, reassuring smile and softened her voice to an unprecedented gentleness. “My lord, don’t be afraid. I’m here. Don’t move, and don’t panic. This spot looks precarious, but it’s actually very sturdy! This is called a ‘triangular stable space,’ understand? It’s very stable. As long as the main structure of that broken rafter above us doesn’t completely fall apart, this is the safest bomb shelter around. Not even King Yama’s own father could break it open. We just need to wait calmly for rescue.”
To enhance her persuasiveness, she painstakingly extracted an arm pinned between their bodies and awkwardly gestured a triangle, her elbow unconsciously brushing against his tense pectoral muscle again.
Stable my ass!
Xie Yunjing was so stimulated by her action that he almost lost his composure and cursed out loud.
His breathing grew heavier. This woman… what kind of demon was she? She was definitely… doing it on purpose!
Her squeezing, touching, and explaining wasn’t comforting him; it was continuously fanning the flames!
An indescribable, stifling heat mixed with intense frustration clogged his chest, burning his internal organs.
But when he met those astonishingly bright eyes, which held no trace of flirtation but only absolute conviction in “structural safety”… that frustrated flame was bizarrely doused a little by another, unfamiliar emotion.
“Look!” Shen Taotao was still trying her best to educate him. “The wood and tiles that fell just now have blocked the opening tightly, which actually adds another ‘load-bearing wall’ to our triangular space. It’s like double insurance. As long as we don’t move that main beam up there…”
Her words were drowned out by the chaotic shouts, calls for help, and the sounds of frantic digging from outside.
Shen Dashan’s booming, gong-like voice echoed, “Little Sister—”
Zhang Xun’s voice was just as loud, “Master—”
The two people trapped in their “sweet hell” flinched almost simultaneously.
When the last few pieces of wood and broken tiles blocking the exit were forcefully pulled away by Shen Dashan and the others, a bone-chilling wind rushed into the triangular cage, a space so narrow they could almost hear each other’s heartbeats.
Shen Taotao let out a long breath. Using her hands and feet, she tried to crawl out, but she was too hasty. Her left foot tripped her right, she lost her balance, and her whole body pitched forward.
She fell right into the arms of Xie Yunjing, who had just been freed from his “ordeal” and was about to push himself up.
Her cheek slammed solidly against his chest, which felt as if it were cast from bronze and iron.
Mmm… Xie Yunjing let out a muffled grunt, reflexively and stiffly catching her falling shoulders.
Their eyes met.
He looked down and saw the lingering shock and confusion on her plaster-dusted face.
She looked up and met the roiling… shock, discomposure, and residual… warmth in his bottomless eyes.
Clack!
A wood chip from somewhere fell on Shen Taotao’s head, breaking the dead silence.
“Master! Shen Girl! Are you two alright?” Zhang Xun, covered in dust and grime, rushed over, his voice choked with fear and tears. “You scared me to death.”
As if electrocuted, Shen Taotao sprang out of Xie Yunjing’s arms and patted her chest, still shaken. “It was that load-bearing pillar against the wall. The bottom was gnawed hollow by rats. The frozen soil heaving displaced the mortise and tenon joint, causing the entire corner’s load-bearing capacity to collapse. That’s why it came down so cleanly.”
As she spoke, she pointed to the core of the collapse, her logic clear and her terminology precise, leaving the nearby relay station soldiers gaping in astonishment.
This little exiled lady… she really knows her stuff.
Xie Yunjing, who had just steadied himself, his chest still aching dully, also had his gaze sharpen at her words, landing precisely on the point of structural failure she had indicated.
Rats gnawing the pillar hollow, frozen soil heaving causing displacement, the mortise and tenon joint cracking.
She didn’t survive by luck alone…
A scrutinizing, probing gaze, mixed with a hint of imperceptible shock, was cast for the first time with such sharpness upon Shen Taotao’s small, plaster-streaked face.
“Master, it’s a blessing from heaven that you’re alright!” Zhang Xun tearfully looked at the obvious handprint on the front of Xie Yunjing’s robe, then at Shen Taotao. A sudden inspiration struck him, and he said slyly, “Master, Shen Girl risked her life to save you. This debt of saving your life… Master, you must…” He winked and gestured frantically, “…repay it with… yourself in marriage.”
Xie Yunjing: “!!!”